Tesla is perhaps an electrical auto maker, however CEO Elon Musk has made clear that he thinks of it as rather more: an innovator in synthetic intelligence and software program, a builder of world-shaking robots. He’s additionally argued that Tesla needs to be value much more than it’s as we speak: as much as $20 trillion, he posted in July, greater than 5 occasions the present value of Nvidia.
Musk has additionally made it clear that he desires to receives a commission, rather a lot. In November, Tesla shareholders will vote on the board’s proposal to pay the CEO a exceptional $1 trillion over the subsequent decade. The deal would additionally enhance Musk’s stake in Tesla from 13 % to 1 / 4. However Musk would solely get that huge determine—and the additional management—if he hits a collection of bold metrics, together with 20 million autos delivered, 1 million robotaxis in industrial operation, and an $8.5 trillion valuation. And likewise, 1 million Optimus humanoid robots delivered.
On a name with traders on Wednesday, Musk locked on to that final level to make his most threatening argument for a huge payday but. “My elementary concern with regard to how a lot voting management I’ve at Tesla is, if I am going forward and construct this huge robotic military, can I simply be ousted in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later?” he stated. “If we construct this robotic military, do I’ve at the very least a robust affect over this robotic military? Not management, however a robust affect … I do not really feel comfy constructing that robotic military until I’ve a robust affect.”
Typically, Musk talks about Tesla’s Optimus challenge as extra of a drive for peace than struggle. He’s stated that Optimus will upend the job market and free humanity from the drudgery of labor. (“Working will likely be elective, like rising your individual greens, as a substitute of shopping for them from the shop,” he posted this week.) Elsewhere on the investor name Wednesday, he stated that Tesla’s robots would “truly create a world the place there isn’t a poverty, the place everybody has entry to the best medical care.”
Optimus, he added, “will likely be an unbelievable surgeon, and picture if everybody had entry to an unbelievable surgeon.” For Tesla, Optimus will likely be “an infinite cash glitch,” Musk stated, arguing that everybody will desire a humanoid robotic who can do their work for them.
